Active Member of 'The Chemistry in Disks (CID) Project' which is an international consortium among the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (Heidelberg, Germany), University of Bordeaux (Bordeaux, France), Institute de Radio astronomie Millimetrique (Grenoble, France), SETI Institute (Mountain View, USA), Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica (Taipei, Taiwan), Jena Observatory (Jena, Germany), University of Virginia (Charlottesville, USA), and Konkoly Observatory (Budapest, Hungary).

Active Member of the International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, Switzerland- International Science Team Project- 'From Qualitative to Quantitative: Exploring the Early Solar System by Connecting Comet Composition and Protoplanetary Disk Models.'

I am an astronomer doing astrophysics, astrochemistry, astrobiology, and planetary science. Currently, I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences at NISER Bhubaneswar, India, and a visiting scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, USA.

I am interested in the physics and chemistry of simple and complex organic molecules in space from interstellar clouds, the birthplaces of stars, through to protoplanetary disks. These organics eventually seed planetary surfaces and atmospheres and play a role in the "Origin of Life."

I am also the co-investigator of a Guaranteed Time Observation (GTO) program of NASA's next flagship astrophysics mission James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to study physics and chemistry of protostellar binaries in Perseus.

Currently, I am using the interferometric data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to study the evolution of volatile molecules in protoplanetary disks with the goal of determining the amount of volatile carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen available to form planets and to compare with the exoplanetary atmospheric compositions derived either from inverse retrieval code or chemical kinetics code.

I am also interested in linking disk models and observations to the origin of comets and have a strong desire to understand the source of the observed organics on them.

I also have a deep interest in the future development (technology) and scientific capabilities of WFIRST, SPICA, OST, SPHEREx, and HabEx mission (together with ground based facilities such as TMT and SKA) to revolutionize our understanding of planetary system formation and complete the census of the outer reaches of the Solar System.

Contacts:

Dr. Liton Majumdar

National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER)

(An Autonomous Institute under the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India)

Currently, at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA, I am co-supervising Jayden Buttler from California State University for his Master's Thesis on the physical structure and chemical composition of a class 0 protostar using the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA).

Ph.D. Postions: Will be advertised shortly

Internships and Summer Project: Internship positions are available for motivated and research minded young students to work on the various ongoing research projects in collaboration with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, USA.